Measuring the Freshwater
Flux Through Hudson Strait

Freshwater in the North Atlantic

Freshwater is a key player in our
climate
system and small changes in the
freshwater budget of the oceans can potentially induce large changes in
our
climate. This is because freshwater is much lighter than seawater and
has the potential of dramatically increasing the ocean's vertical
stability.

Changes in the freshwater flowing into the North Atlantic have been
identified as one of the potential triggers for changes in the
overturning circulation and in the poleward heat transport.

There are three main sources of freshwater into the North Atlantic:
Fram
Strait (east of Greenland), Davis Strait (west of Greenland) and Hudson
Strait.
Of these, the first two are major pathways connecting the fresher,
ice-producing
Arctic Ocean with the North Atlantic, while Hudson Strait accumulates a
large
riverine input from the North American continent, formation of sea-ice
over
the entire Hudson Bay/Foxe Basin system and a small contribution from
the
Arctic via Hecla and Fury Strait. A large international program, ASOF, is underway to quantify and
monitor the exchange between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.

Freshwater from Hudson Strait

After Fram
and Davis Straits, Hudson Strait is the third largest input of
freshwater into the Labrador Sea (and hence the North Atlantic).
Freshwater sources for this region include a large riverine input (900 cubed kilometres per year), seasonal
sea-ice formation over the large inland sea that is composed of Hudson Bay, James Bay and Foxe Basin (>1
million square km), plus a contribution from the Arctic via Fury and
Hecla Strait.

My research in Hudson Strait has been aimed at measuring
the freshwater flow out of Hudson Strait and investigating what controls its seasonal
to interannual variability.